Communications services may allow for a local network to communicate with an outside network. Previously, many local networks have been internally wired with technologies of relatively high bandwidth compared to the bandwidth of their connection to the outside network. For example, a premises network of 10baseT Ethernet may have been connected to an external network through a 56 k modem or ISDN connection. Accordingly, such premises networks may have been bandwidth-limited by their connection to the outside network.
Due to the increased prevalence of broadband connections, such as fiber-to-the-premises broadband services, in-premises wireless networks may now may be a bottleneck with regard to broadband services. Particularly, high definition video data may be especially taxing to an in-premises network due to the broad bandwidth required for the transmission of such video data. As an example, if three video devices in a home each require a 150 Mb/second network stream to operate, then a 500 Mb/sec premises network may be required to allow for each of the three video devices to be used simultaneously.
In some installations, unsightly coaxial cable may be laid in a premises. However, this approach has drawbacks, such as that a video device must be close to a cable outlet and that it may be difficult, inconvenient, and expensive to add an outlet. Additionally, existing wireless systems may lack sufficient bandwidth for multiple video data streams, and higher bandwidth wireless systems may be overly susceptible to interference from other wireless devices, such as cellular telephones.